1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to automated, computer-operated vending machines. More particularly, the present invention relates to interactive vending machines with enhanced two-dimensional and/or three dimensional user interfaces that respond to user gestures or presence or touch for vending products.
2. Description of the Related Art
Numerous prior art vending machines exist for selling or vending diverse products through an automated, or ‘self-service’ format. Vending reached popularity in the late 1800's with coin-operated devices dispensing diverse merchandise. More recently vending machines have evolved to include robotic dispensing components, and/or PCs and virtual interfaces. These new vending platforms have emerged in the marketplace under the popular descriptions “automated retail,” “interactive retail,” and/or “interactive retail displays.” Such vending machines may be deployed within a variety of retail or commercial settings. They typically include illuminated, visual displays that seek to attract and educate customers or potential customers. Products information may be customer-requested utilizing interactive displays, including touch screen computer interfaces and virtual interfaces. However, a disadvantage of known machines relates to their cumbersome and “mechanical” appearance.
Automated retail stores, vending machines, and/or retail display platforms still look and feel like large, unfriendly machines or “mechanical boxes.” Such machines provide potential customers with a cold, impersonal and indifferent impression, which is not conducive to maximizing sales. Such prior art vending machines lack the sophistication of traditional retail stores in both the end user and retail display experience. This is due to the standard lighting, interfaces, and display mechanisms within these platforms. Displays are limited in the amount of information that can be communicated about a product and space constraints. Further, they fail to provide the depth of information found in many e-commerce portals. Additionally, information on products within traditional automated retail/vending platforms has historically been limited to either the virtual touch screen or the physical display and there is no perceptual link between touch screen information and products being displayed beyond digital images on the touch screen.
Typically, the presentation of merchandise and information offered by traditional vending machines has not evolved sufficiently to satisfy a discerning consumer of premium or upscale products. The lack of a premium design or appearance has proven to be a hurdle for the distribution of expensive luxury items in automated vending machines. Historically product selection methods in vending, automated retail, or retail displays have included crude mechanical systems such as levers, buttons, and pull posts. More recently, selection have been enabled through touch screens which display virtual pictures of merchandise. Each of these methods requires the user to draw a connection between the disparate areas where a physical product is stored vs. a panel where it is selected.
Known vending, automated retail, retail display, and digital signage platforms lack the ability to directly interface with a physical product to select that product or reveal additional information without having to leverage a virtual representation of the product. The repercussion of this is that there is increased human error in product selection, less intuitive selecting, and inefficiency in purchasing.
It is thus desirable for an ideal, upscale user interface for vending machines or the like enabling such machines to interactively respond to and sense diverse user inputs to increase user-friendliness, engagement and ease of use. Further, it is desirable to provide an enhanced vending experience or ambience in conjunction with the vending of upscale products.